The art piece that I am choosing for this discussion is, truly, a one of a kind piece. Water Woman with Twins by Lynn Hershman features a simple yet startling rendition of a woman standing tall and erect facing the viewer with her palms facing forward as if offering something to the ground from her sleeves. Three things stand out here: Two mini "copies" of her self are being dropped from her hands, her face is extremely blurred/ scratched out in blood red whilst the rest of the picture is in a monotone bluish/black/green color, and her entire body, including the copies, are designed purely with water droplets...

The Biblical connection I see here is extremely strong, so much so in fact, I was almost taken aback... I had such a harsh vision of this woman being a rendition of Eve herself, offering her message to the viewer; very blunt, almost ashamed as if she was being punished. The harsh scratching/blurring of the face reminded me of sin... through the eating of the apple, being smeared all over her face as if to say "this is what I did", "I don't even deserve a face anymore, for my new identity is SIN." What completed this connection, for me, was the mini copies of herself falling out of her hands. It was almost as if copies of herself were consistently being produced... and then it hit me... these copies could very well be representative of the human race, specifically, all of the women that descended from Eve; all of the women carrying the mark of sin in their identities forever. The influence here is extremely blunt and I felt very pleased to see someone take this approach. As an avid Christian, I am, understandably, weary of renditions that are distasteful or disrespectful but this piece was none of that and literally took my breath away.  

Art Museum

         I felt that there was a real connection between the paintings in the entrance of the museum and at least some of the themes within the Bible.  The one that sticks out most in my mind is the painting that was directly next to the exit on the right.  It was a canvas that was completely blue--not a dull blue, but a vibrant turquoise colour that had greens and yellows mixed within it to create a stunning new colour.  I felt a connection between this piece and the emotions involved in the flood story within the Bible.  The mixed qualities of the painting reminded me of the sort of chaos that exists within that story.  The complete blueness made me think of the water covering the entirety of the earth, nothing else visible except blue.  Everywhere.

Art Museum!..

I did not choose a specific painting; instead I looked at every painting, comparing them to what I knew about the Bible.  As I walked into the gallery, to my left were paintings that had colors very similar to the cover of the Old Testament text that we have. They were bold and almost looked as if they were in a microscopic image. This similarity made me think of the life of Jesus, and the grass and land God created. The bright colors reminded me of the way to heaven, as it appears on the cover of the text as well. Other paintings looked like a glass image, church like and very religious. I also noticed a lot of Japanese paintings, which makes me think of the name Yahweh and the way the Japanese worship Jesus, which is very different than the traditional way.  Walking by each painting I came across many cultures and people placed in several different situations; war, weather, and time periods throughout history. War is something God tells us people that we will face and everything that God stated in the bible was shown through each painting. One painting that stood out to me was the painting of Adam and Eve. The nudity that was shown was a signal of shame and sinning. Overall, each painting related to the Bible in its own way, whether it was the creations of God or the disobedience of Adam and Eve. 

"Terminal Mirage"

The piece I chose was "Terminal Mirage" by David Maisel. This painting reminded me of the story of Noah and the flood. In the painting it was almost as if the land was being flooded, but as the water moved inward it created this image of the land making it look like a leaf. As the water destroyed everything it had covered it was almost everything was being recreated; new land feature and new landscaping.

The piece was full of beauty in itself, but I think it was influenced by the way the bible describes beauty. The beauty of something isn't the first image, but it's deeper. The first image this painting gives is land being consumed by the water, but when you step back the art pops out and you notice a beautiful large brown leaf against the deep blue of the water. It's almost as if Maisel gave this feature a second glance and realized that there was something beautiful. I don't know if the piece was actually influenced by the bible, but I think Maisel took some of the morals from the bible, like don't judge beauty by the first glance, and realized that there was something deeper in the feature.

            David Marisel's Lake Project #15 impressed me two ways; the directional pull of the painting, from bottom left to upper right, from earthly browns to aspirational blues, provided a subconscious spiritual pull. On the one hand, the utter the lack of "for-text" caused me to question what it was that I was looking at. The wash of colors, the abstract imagery, build a flood like background for what might be present in Renaissance-type construction of a biblical scene. But the artist leaves it to your imagination to fill in what could be in the foreground. It's as if a great landscape painter left the little village by the stream out of the picture. Would Noah and his Ark and maybe a few animals looking out a porthole, enhance the story of the Lake Project in Marisel's painting, just as the little village might in the contrived landscape scene? Who knows? That's Art!

CU Art Museum and the Bible - Hannah Tuell

During our visit to the CU Art Museum, I focused my attention primarily on the first room with David Maisel's work. Maisel's work relies very heavily on man's interaction with nature. I wanted to call attention, specifically, to the pieces selected from The Lake Project. This project is investigating and re-contextualizing the effects that man is having on the environment through its attempt to re route water sources to service its cities. I think the removed scope of these landscapes are in line with the perception we may hold for God in a biblical sense. Particularly, in line with Genesis 6:7 "And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them." I think his work, from a biblical lens, may be seen to represent this image of a replete earth, void of any remaining life with only remnants of man's influence as proof of its existence. I do not think this work was created intent on referencing the bible, however, I do believe that the choice to photograph these compositions from such an abstracted aerial view was an artistic choice that may nod to a view from the omnipotent. I see them as sad realizations of the damage that the collective of man can inflict on something we should revere as most holy of all, the Earth. Depending on the viewer, this "holy" reverence may refer to anything from a Biblical holiness to a Scientific holiness. I think the work is striking and bleak in the most important ways.

The piece I chose to interpret was... David Maisel Terminal Mirage 3 2003 Pigment Print, 2012 This photo reminds me of the flood story in the bible because it is this immense landscape of blue watery substance mimicking the entire earth that was covered with water. The white "contrail" like path of some vehicle divides the composition through the middle and reminds me of the water disturbance that a large ship or cruise liner would make. Much like it would look like if the ark were traveling through the image to the mountain. The contrail starts at the bottom of the picture in a deep violet color that is almost black and transitions to this rich blue color throughout. Symbolizing the ark coming to light after the state of darkness which it was held in by Yahweh during the flood. As for what I think about if David was influenced by the bible in any way while creating this work of art. I highly doubt it. It's possible but looking at his other pictures, I dont think he was influenced by the bible. These photos were documentations of highly polluted landscapes here on earth. They are meant to make you think about yourself and consider your contribution to the world. As these pictures are of pollution which surprisingly comes from the process of creating products that we use on the daily. They are beautiful yet horrifying at the same time. Complex stuff...